Dead Space spiritual successor The Callisto Protocol no longer a PUBG game

The creators of Dead Space have a new sci-fi horror game coming later this year, The Callisto Protocol, that was at one point connected to the fiction of PUBG (née PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds). But that’s no longer the case, says Glen Schofield, founder and CEO of developer Striking Distance Studios. According to a tweet from Schofield, his studio’s new game is now “its own story and world.”

“It was originally part of the PUBG timeline, but grew into its own world,” Schofield said on Twitter Thursday. “PUBG is awesome, [and] we will still have little surprises for fans, but [The Callisto Protocol] is its own world, story and universe.”

If you’re wondering how the modern-day battle royale chaos of PUBG is connected to a sci-fi horror game set on a moon prison three centuries from now, you’re not alone. But since Striking Distance is owned by Krafton, parent company of PUBG: Battlegrounds developer PUBG Studios, one can see how a major corporation might be interested in creating a “universe” of some sort to lure fans from one project over to another. It was an idea that was bizarre to begin with and bizarre to walk back.

Schofield reportedly told Game Informer that Striking Distance “built in some touchpoints, and you’ll find them throughout the game like Easter eggs and things like that” that appear to connect The Callisto Protocol to PUBG, but it appears that connective tissue won’t be officially canon anymore.

The Callisto Protocol is slated for release on consoles and PC later this year. Schofield’s former colleagues at Electronic Arts will release an official Dead Space game, a remake of the original, in January 2023.